Macy and me exploring!What happened was that we went with the Aitkensons to try out the new South African restaurant in Tung Chung, on Lantau Island, only we arrived late and ... blah, blah, blah ... but luckily David A. knew of another good place - "Curry Corner" - down the road, so we hied off there instead.
I don't normally do accent-humour, but I must tell you this story because it's so cute: in the taxi, the driver didn't know "Curry Corner" so David pointed left and pointed right until he got us there, and when we stopped in front of the restaurant ...
The Restaurant.... the driver got all tetchy and his tone went all snitty and instructional, like "Dude, get it right next time!", and he tells David "The name is called Cully Conna!"
Anyway, "Cully Conna" is an outdoor restaurant that, tucked up a back alley, doesn't look much but has absolutely the most delicious food. Fabulous, in fact. (Does takeaways too!)
Anyway, that's not the discovery; this is!
Macy climbing our discovery!This, folks, is why you smoke! These days, one has to remove oneself from company to indulge, so you get to wander off and hunt around until you find someplace with no "no smoking" signs and that's why you are forever meeting interesting people or discovering interesting things. And yesterday, while off for a smoke, I saw this wall ...
A granite wall! ... and was curious so wandered along the length to find more ...
Met Macy looking boredin front of the wall.
... and then saw this gateway ...
Inscription above the doorway translates to "1832"
- older than HK
... and it was just so lovely, we had to sneak inside to check it out.
It's a fort!Inside, we found we were allowed inside. There's a stone declaring the site a gazetted national monument and a brass plaque outlining the history, despite none of this being in the history books. Built in the Qing Dynasty, it's a fort built as an attempt to control the HK waters after the new-fangled flurry of European trading in Macau and Guangdong. And, although it doesn't say so on the plaque, you can see it is absolutely an attempt to copy the Portuguese fort in Macau:
Me under a Jacaranda tree
in the fort in Macau
After a quick reconnoitre, we decided it was too good for a quick look, so we'd come back later with the others. And that's what we did.
Lovely afternoon. It was all just so strange and curious. Like, just look at this marvel:
And here's one I made at home!
Take a double-click look at it. Someone has tried to build themselves a cannon. Doesn't it just ache with poignancy. It's clear what's happened here. Someone has seen the Portuguese cannons in the fort in Macau ...
Keith with a Macau cannon!
... and decided they had to have some of those. But how was it made? At first we thought they'd hammered it, only we knew Chinese didn't forge that way. Then Keith decided it was a sand mould. You can see it doesn't actually work because there's no way you can load, but isn't it just so clever, and each cannon built gets better than the previous one.
More cannons
After the first two, they are dated ...
Macy looking at inscription,
which translates to 1818.
... and you can see how they kept making them - six in all - up until the Opium Wars, when, I imagine, the Chinese had better things to do with their time and metal than trying to figure out how to built a Portuguese cannon.
Carved granite blocks
These dudes learned how to carve and transport massive granite blocks! How's that for amazing!
There's a really interesting historical progression happening here if you look. Just next to this fort, a bit down the hill, unfortunately now covered in plaster ...
A truly bad photo of the
plaster-covered granite temple.
... there's a temple that's the first ever built out of granite, maybe in about 1730. The Cantonese didn't previously use granite for building, despite there being several islands - like Stonecutter Island next to Lantau - that are completely composed of granite. And the fact that they suddenly start using it, it's so clear they were watching the Portuguese build their own granite fort and all the time they were learning.
Then, according to the historical timeline of the area, after they built this temple, they made their first attempt to build a fort (which, according to the small museum in this fort, can be found in the tall grass opposite the Tung Chung Ferry Terminus) in which they tried to put up a single wall, Portuguese-style, but which fell down, so they started again further up the hill using the tried and true Chinese two-walls-filled-with-rubble method ...
The Great Wall of China
wall-building method.
And here they nailed it, big-time. It's been nearly 300 years, but, as you can see, the fort is still going strong.
David A. and I walk the length!
Isn't it amazing. Although no one knows quite when this fort was built, they do know it's older than HK by, possibly, well over a century. And if you know your Hong Kong history, you'd be aware that, when it was claimed by the British, the place was seen a bunch of islands containing only a couple dozen small Tanka fishing villages. This fort makes it so not so.
British Police station complex
... and then, in about 1960, they gave it back to the village who turned it into a village school until it was declared a gazetted national monument in 1979 and the school closed ...
Kids still come in to use
the school playgrounds
... and nowadays it's all empty, except for an elderly security guard armed only with a very hostile stare.
However, as the afternoon progressed we saw more and more elderly people being bussed in to check the place out, so it's obvious that there is some attempt to re-examine Hong Kong's history of resistance!
And here's just a set of random shots of things that I liked about the place. Won't bother to explain them.
Me under a Jacaranda tree in the fort in Macau
After a quick reconnoitre, we decided it was too good for a quick look, so we'd come back later with the others. And that's what we did.
Lovely afternoon. It was all just so strange and curious. Like, just look at this marvel:
And here's one I made at home! Take a double-click look at it. Someone has tried to build themselves a cannon. Doesn't it just ache with poignancy. It's clear what's happened here. Someone has seen the Portuguese cannons in the fort in Macau ...
Keith with a Macau cannon! ... and decided they had to have some of those. But how was it made? At first we thought they'd hammered it, only we knew Chinese didn't forge that way. Then Keith decided it was a sand mould. You can see it doesn't actually work because there's no way you can load, but isn't it just so clever, and each cannon built gets better than the previous one.
More cannons
Macy looking at inscription,which translates to 1818.
... and you can see how they kept making them - six in all - up until the Opium Wars, when, I imagine, the Chinese had better things to do with their time and metal than trying to figure out how to built a Portuguese cannon.
This is something else again, isn't it. But look what else they did!
Carved granite blocks These dudes learned how to carve and transport massive granite blocks! How's that for amazing!
There's a really interesting historical progression happening here if you look. Just next to this fort, a bit down the hill, unfortunately now covered in plaster ...
A truly bad photo of the plaster-covered granite temple.
... there's a temple that's the first ever built out of granite, maybe in about 1730. The Cantonese didn't previously use granite for building, despite there being several islands - like Stonecutter Island next to Lantau - that are completely composed of granite. And the fact that they suddenly start using it, it's so clear they were watching the Portuguese build their own granite fort and all the time they were learning.
Then, according to the historical timeline of the area, after they built this temple, they made their first attempt to build a fort (which, according to the small museum in this fort, can be found in the tall grass opposite the Tung Chung Ferry Terminus) in which they tried to put up a single wall, Portuguese-style, but which fell down, so they started again further up the hill using the tried and true Chinese two-walls-filled-with-rubble method ...
The Great Wall of China wall-building method.
And here they nailed it, big-time. It's been nearly 300 years, but, as you can see, the fort is still going strong.
David A. and I walk the length! Isn't it amazing. Although no one knows quite when this fort was built, they do know it's older than HK by, possibly, well over a century. And if you know your Hong Kong history, you'd be aware that, when it was claimed by the British, the place was seen a bunch of islands containing only a couple dozen small Tanka fishing villages. This fort makes it so not so.
It was never used however. And, probably luckily, the cannons were never fired. When the British took over the area in 1842, they met no resistance, and they even took over this fort and built a police station inside.
British Police station complex 
... and then, in about 1960, they gave it back to the village who turned it into a village school until it was declared a gazetted national monument in 1979 and the school closed ...
Kids still come in to use the school playgrounds
... and nowadays it's all empty, except for an elderly security guard armed only with a very hostile stare.
However, as the afternoon progressed we saw more and more elderly people being bussed in to check the place out, so it's obvious that there is some attempt to re-examine Hong Kong's history of resistance!
And here's just a set of random shots of things that I liked about the place. Won't bother to explain them.
Later: Intrigued, wanting to know more about Tung Chung Fort, I googled and discovered this place is waayyyy odder, although perhaps not older, than I thought. This Wikipedia entry, which I don't actually believe, says that it was built by Northern Chinese - 300 soldiers from the Right Battalion of Dapang - in about 11 80, during the Song Dynasty. It says it was the base for fighting the southern pirates, except that the evil pirate Cheng Po Tsai overran the place so the Northerners had to build Kowloon Walled City to keep an eye on them.
This Wikipedia account completely contradicts everything on the plaque and in the little museum inside the fort, so it looks like this is all about something else again. How is it that I keep stumbling across these odd mysteries?
????
Or is this Wikipedia entry yet another attempt by Our Northern Brethern to diminish their much-despised fiesty Southerner long-time foes?
(Have you seen the fabulous Chinese movie "Red Cliff"? It's just out and is part 1 of a three-part series that looks that the on-going battles between the North and South!)
And even later: Just realised, the granite temple down the hill - which is supposedly older than the fort and "the battery" closer to the sea - is dedicated to the god Tin Hau, and that's the god of the Tanka people, so these buildings CAN'T be Northern Chinese installations.
Much, much, much later: Realised I truly am a fool and that date above the gateway tells all. It reads "1832", which is ten years before the British took over Hong Kong, which means they would have been still using the old Chinese calender which is - although I can't find anything that gives me the precise Chinese comparative calender nor even date for this year, in which case I could work backwards - roughly 650 years ahead of our own. Which means that date of "1832" translates roughly to about 1180AD, which puts Tung Chung Fort slap-bang into the timeframe given by the Wikipedia entry I so cavaliarly disputed.
And, naturally, when overrun by naughty pirate Cheng Po Tsai, he would never have allowed some unfamiliar god to remain in the temple, so that's why he - as a good Tanka and thus follower of the god Tin Hau should - rededicated the temple to his own god. I never thought of that!
Who says I'm pig-headed and stubborn? See how reasonable I am when I'm given the facts! I am now willing to accept that Tung Chung Fort had nothing whatsoever to do with the Portuguese and was most likely built by the 300 soldiers of the Right Battalion of Dapang!
So very much later:
Finally found the Chinese calender (called The Buddha Calender) and have worked out that 1832 is roughly 1230AD. Don't know how that changes things, so I'm keeping an open mind until I find out more.
This Wikipedia account completely contradicts everything on the plaque and in the little museum inside the fort, so it looks like this is all about something else again. How is it that I keep stumbling across these odd mysteries?
But, I mean, look at this wall. Is it really nearly a thousand years old?
????Or is this Wikipedia entry yet another attempt by Our Northern Brethern to diminish their much-despised fiesty Southerner long-time foes?
(Have you seen the fabulous Chinese movie "Red Cliff"? It's just out and is part 1 of a three-part series that looks that the on-going battles between the North and South!)
And even later: Just realised, the granite temple down the hill - which is supposedly older than the fort and "the battery" closer to the sea - is dedicated to the god Tin Hau, and that's the god of the Tanka people, so these buildings CAN'T be Northern Chinese installations.
Much, much, much later: Realised I truly am a fool and that date above the gateway tells all. It reads "1832", which is ten years before the British took over Hong Kong, which means they would have been still using the old Chinese calender which is - although I can't find anything that gives me the precise Chinese comparative calender nor even date for this year, in which case I could work backwards - roughly 650 years ahead of our own. Which means that date of "1832" translates roughly to about 1180AD, which puts Tung Chung Fort slap-bang into the timeframe given by the Wikipedia entry I so cavaliarly disputed.
And, naturally, when overrun by naughty pirate Cheng Po Tsai, he would never have allowed some unfamiliar god to remain in the temple, so that's why he - as a good Tanka and thus follower of the god Tin Hau should - rededicated the temple to his own god. I never thought of that!
Who says I'm pig-headed and stubborn? See how reasonable I am when I'm given the facts! I am now willing to accept that Tung Chung Fort had nothing whatsoever to do with the Portuguese and was most likely built by the 300 soldiers of the Right Battalion of Dapang!
So very much later:
Finally found the Chinese calender (called The Buddha Calender) and have worked out that 1832 is roughly 1230AD. Don't know how that changes things, so I'm keeping an open mind until I find out more.
Posts
2 comments:
Nice to see your thought processes, Denise! :)
I was there last week. It really is worth a visit. But I believe it does date from 1832 AD, so is not as old as the Fan Lau fort on Lantau.
Cheers
Pete
Pete, treasure! Bah humbug!!! I snarl at your suggestion!
I ask you ... why, why, why would someone carve the date of 1832 over the door when HK did not become a British colony until 1841! I doubt that they'd even have known the western calender. 100% no, no, no! They would have used the Chinese dating system. And that makes it 1230!
Post a Comment